New EU Measures Bring Hope to Restoring Bass Stocks

The second guest post by Chris Williams of the NEF (New Economics Foundation) looking at the progress which has been made over European bass stocks – and what more needs to be done.

Anyone following the fate of sea bass in the EU will have been filled with hope that the future of this iconic species can be turned around by the decisions made at European level. The final part of the package of EU measures was announced on July 2nd, including a measure to increase the minimum size at which bass can be caught and taken ashore from 36cm to 42 cm, effective from September 1st 2015. This regulation ensures that more seabass will survive to maturity, allowing more fish to reproduce therefore rebuilding depleted stocks.

This is the first time this fisheries management approach, has been used for commercial and recreational fishers in the EU. In conjunction with the pelagic trawl ban on spawning aggregations, monthly catch limits, the daily three bass catch limit for recreational anglers, and a closed area around Ireland, the politics has triumphed and an agreement has been reached in line with the measures that NEF put forward in our 7 steps to bass stock recovery.

The increased minimum size regulation in combination with the catch limits is an essential fisheries management tool to enable bass stocks to be restored to a condition where it could be fished at its Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). This is a legal requirement for all stocks by 2020, but is especially pertinent to bass, as if the regulators are adequately resourced this could well become a reality and cause for hope.

However, these changes will affect inshore fishers in a substantial way, and the impacts will be felt widely from Wales and around the southern coast to Suffolk – where the vast majority of UK small scale fishers operate. Fishers will have to adapt to the minimum size regulations, which mean a large percentage of their catch (36cm bass) will be illegal to land. While this poses a significant challenge, if these measures aren’t enforced, the bass fishery will not survive for large, small or recreational fishers.

Following scientific advice will mean an effective end to the bass fishery

The catch limits decided at EU level are cumulatively still above scientific advice and are the result of political negotiation and lobbying by fishers and businesses rather than measures solely designed to protect and restore bass at stock level.

Since 2002, ICES have advised that we should not increase catch levels in order to allow bass stocks to recover – but over the past three years, their advice to reduce catches has been ignored. In fact ICES notes the stock is likely to decrease even further in the short term due to low levels of recruitment (low numbers of young fish) within bass stocks. Even if new restrictions pose challenges to fishers in the short term, the crisis is far from over as limits now need to be set so low that the very real prospects of a ‘by catch only fishery’ or total closure for bass fishing still exists.

Many small scale fishermen moved to bass as a result of the ongoing reductions in quota for other main commercial species. Their cumulative fishing effort, added to the larger offshore trawl fishery, provided a lifeline for these boats, but the consequences have been catastrophic for the stock. However, without addressing issues of quota, the situation for inshore fishermen looks even bleaker.